"So... Do you like American hot dogs?"

Ok... so...

As you know, or may not know if this is your first time here, and incidentally if it is hello and welcome...

Where was I?

Right! When last we left our blogger he was on his way to play at being a journalist at the Rangers v. Lightning Preseason game. It should be noted that I got there a half hour before the doors opened, no one believed me that I was "media" and even fewer people were impressed that I wrote for a blog. Undaunted I read a magazine in a fine restaurant, Roy Rogers, across the street and drank a beverage, diet coke, while I waited for the doors to open.

Eventually I got inside. So, I'm snapping pictures of Stamkos like a Japanese tourist at Disney World and writing things down on my notepad like "speedy" and "adequate puck control" with many exclamation points and little hearts when the people who will be sitting behind me for the evening arrive.

Because they are loud I quickly surmise that they are bankers (go figure that in the middle of one of the worst crises the industry has ever seen these guys have time for a preseason hockey game... but I digress) and that one of them is a female on exchange from Austria. Before you ask I have no idea if she was cute. I only turned around once, to tell the guy that Korpikoski scored the second goal (and that was only because I was tired of the endless Who scored that? Was it Prucha? Shanahan? Superman?) and she wasn't there at that particular moment.

ANYWAY... I guess about halfway through the game she gets a hot dog at which point the banker to my back and right says "So... do you like American hot dogs?" I shared in their uncomfortable silence (if you want to know what I was doing at that moment I was drawing little arrows puncturing Petr Nedved's skull in the hopes that Renny would realize the smoke and mirrors routine ol' Neddy has been putting on this preseason) for what seemed like forever. I could only pray that she hadn't yet gotten the subtleties of the language... and that was only the SECOND most ridiculous thing that guy said all night.

The first?

"The Lightning made the playoffs last year right?"

Is it any wonder that our economy is in trouble kids?

Anyway thoughts and observations from the Rangers v. Lightning preseason game:

The Rangers were rolling with mostly a B squad last night. The B squad, though they lost, still seemed pretty dominant through two periods. Lundqvist would have never given up 2 of the 3 goals the Lightning scored on Valiquette. The third was a FILTHY top shelf backhand by St. Louis.

The real standout of the B-squad for me was defenseman Corey Potter. The Rangers Blue line is crowded (Redden, Rozsival, Kalinin, Mara, Staal) and I would imagine that Girardi has the inside track on the sixth spot, but Potter looks NHL ready to me. He was rarely out of position last night, played the point well and has a good breakout pass. The one time he was pickpocketed, by St. Louis of all people, Perry got back and laid down to block the shot. He will be a good hockey player for this team some day.

Korpikoski scored a goal. It wasn't pretty and was largely the fault of Matt Carle (more on him in a moment) but a goal is a goal. It was really the one "great" thing he did all night. There were several times where he looked unsure of what to do with the puck or like he needed a map to get through the neutral zone. He's going to be good but he needs some more seasoning.

Rissmiller, on the other hand, continues to impress. He should be a fine addition to this team. He had an absolute laser of a pass to Fritsche (who also looked good) which resulted in the Rangers first goal.

Since Tampa was playing most of their A-team (minus the still recovering Lecavalier and still lazy Prospal) there was a lot more to take in.

At this point it seems like the second and third line will look something like this:
Artuykhin - Stamkos - Malone
Vrbata - Gratton - Someone (Bochenski spent most of the game there but was waived after the game... one assumes Jussi Jokinen?)

Lots of thoughts on this. Artuykhin and Malone are both very big boys and they look to be out there to sort of flank Stamkos. Its clear that if anyone wants to go anywhere near the young star they are going to take a hammering... except... well...

Ok so let me come right out and say it. I don't really like Artuykhin. Watching him play I can see what all the fuss is about. He's big, he can skate and he's got a quick release on his shot and decent enough hands. Those are all good qualities in a player. I know this. Its just his play style reminds me most of Nik Antropov and not in a good way. While I'm insulting the guy I think he hits like Marek Malik. He's a hugger and he takes a lot of dumb penalties because of it. Near the end of the game they tried Vrbata on Stamkos' right and I think that ultimately this would be a better fit. Let Malone and the D provide the protection for Stamkos. Guys are going to figure out that Artuykhin is all height and no muscle pretty quickly.

That said. Wow. Stamkos. The kid can absolutely fly. He doesn't lose the puck easily and, maybe the best thing I can say about him at this stage in his career, he doesn't stand out. He looks like he belongs there. He isn't as silky smooth as St. Louis, yet, but he's really really good. The Calder talk is absolutely warranted. Someone, my bet is Malone, is going to score 30 goals picking up his trash rebounds. The one real knock on the guy at this point is that I'm not sure I saw him win a faceoff all night, on a night when the Rangers top three centers weren't even dressed. Kinda disappointing, but he'll pick that up as they go along. It just means that in big time situations you're going to see a lot of Lecavalier and Gratton.

Vrbata is really really quick, but he'll be wasted on that third line. If he gets some time with Stamkos though... watch out.

Now on to the D. Meszaros looked good all night. Carle did not. I was keeping a tally and Carle was personally responsible for three breakaways and 1 goal. He also got absolutely undressed by Prucha in his own zone but that was more because Prucha put on a sick set of moves then anything else. Carle looked defenisively irresponsible and really didn't have much going offensively until...

Near the end of the game Carle and Meszaros played the point together on the powerplay, with Carle playing the role of pinching d-man and Meszy playing the quarterback. It seemed to work nicely so keep an eye on both of these guys in your draft. I fear for Carle's +/- though.

So those are my observations. Good game for both teams. I think Renny should be able to really narrow down his roster based on that one, and Lightning showed that they are ready to compete this year. One last thing:

Mullet-watch: Melrose appears to have trimmed the mullet considerably. So much for that warrior hair Barry!